“Viewpoints” is a place on Chapelboro where local people are encouraged to share their unique perspectives on issues affecting our community. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work, reporting or approval of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com. If you’d like to contribute a column on an issue you’re concerned about, interesting happenings around town, reflections on local life — or anything else — send a submission to viewpoints@wchl.com.
More Than a Job: How the Town of Chapel Hill Changed the Trajectory of My Family
A perspective from Quran Abdul-Nasir
There are moments in life when an opportunity is more than an opportunity. Sometimes it becomes the bridge between where you are and where you never thought you could be.
For me and my family, the Town of Chapel Hill became that bridge.
In 2023, my wife and I moved our family to the Research Triangle area in search of something better. We had four elementary-age children depending on us, and I had recently completed CDL school. I had a new skill and plenty of determination, but neither guaranteed stability.
We were homeless.
For a family of six, homelessness did not always look like sleeping beneath a bridge or on a sidewalk. For us, it often looked like hotel rooms. We moved from hotel to hotel, searching for the cheapest nightly rate we could afford. I worked odd jobs and took whatever side work I could find because every dollar mattered. There was always another night that had to be paid for.
When you live that way, life becomes painfully short-term. You are not thinking about where you will be five years from now. Sometimes, you are simply trying to figure out where your children will sleep tomorrow night.
Then, in January 2024, I received a call that would change the direction of my life. Michelle Sykes-Parker from Chapel Hill Transit reached out to me about an opportunity to become a bus operator.
It was a job. At least, that was what I thought at the time. I had no idea it would become so much more.
When I began training with Chapel Hill Transit, my family was staying at an Extended Stay hotel off Miami Boulevard in Durham. We did not have reliable transportation, so getting to training became a journey of its own. I would wake up and catch three buses from Durham just to reach Chapel Hill Transit.
Three buses. Then I would do it again. Day after day.
Some nights, even getting back to the hotel was not realistic. There was a newly constructed apartment complex off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard that was still under construction. On some nights, I would quietly slip inside and find a place to sleep.
I was not supposed to be there. It was not my apartment, a shelter or anywhere I had permission to stay. It was an unfinished building. But it was close enough to Chapel Hill Transit that I knew I could wake up the next morning and make it to training on time.
I remember those nights because of the contradiction. I was sleeping inside apartments being built to become someone else’s home while desperately trying to create a path toward a home for my own family.
Then morning would come. I would get myself together and go to training. Most people around me had no idea where I had slept the night before.
I showed up tired. I showed up worried. I showed up wondering how I would keep paying for a hotel room. But I showed up.
I showed up because my wife and four children were depending on me, and I knew I could not allow my circumstances to take this opportunity away.
Eventually, something happened that I will never forget. As an employee of the Town of Chapel Hill, I learned about a rental assistance program available to Town employees. I took advantage of that resource, and it helped my family move toward stable housing.
A job helped me earn a paycheck. But the organization behind that job helped my family find stability. That distinction matters.
Today, when I look back at the man riding three buses from a Durham hotel – or quietly finding somewhere to sleep inside an unfinished building so he could make it to training the next morning – I almost wish I could sit beside him for part of that ride.
I would tell him, Keep going. You have no idea what is waiting for you.
Today, I am not simply a bus operator. Chapel Hill Transit has given me opportunities to grow into leadership. I now serve as a fill-in supervisor and trainer, helping support and develop other operators.
There is something deeply humbling about that. The person who once struggled just to reach training is now trusted to supervise, train and help develop the people who keep our transit system moving.
One of the most meaningful parts of my journey is serving as one of only two Mental Health First Aid instructors for the Town of Chapel Hill. That role means so much to me because I understand what it feels like to carry something heavy while still having to show up every day.
You never truly know what the person sitting beside you – or the employee clocking in next to you – is going through. Someone can be smiling at work while wondering where their family will sleep. Someone can be performing a job while privately carrying fear, exhaustion, financial stress or hopelessness.
I know because I lived it. People trained beside me who probably had no idea that the person sitting next to them had spent the previous night inside a building that was still under construction.
That experience has shaped how I see people today. Sometimes people do not need someone to solve everything. They need someone who notices, someone who listens and someone who reminds them that help exists – and that their current circumstances do not have to define the rest of their life.
My circumstances did not define mine.
My family’s socioeconomic situation has changed dramatically since those days of moving between hotels. We have stability that once seemed impossibly far away. My children have watched their father move from simply trying to survive to building a career, stepping into leadership and helping other people succeed.
None of that makes me forget where we came from. It makes me remember it even more.
When I see a Chapel Hill Transit bus today, I see something different than most people probably see. I see the three buses I once needed just to reach an opportunity. I see hotel rooms. I see an unfinished apartment building. I see mornings when I put the night behind me, straightened myself up and walked into training determined that no one would know what I was going through.
I see my wife. I see our four children. I see uncertainty. But I also see possibility.
I see Michelle Sykes-Parker making that call in January 2024. I see the people at Chapel Hill Transit who gave me an opportunity. I see the Town of Chapel Hill.
And I see what can happen when an employer does more than provide a paycheck – when it provides people with resources, development and a genuine pathway forward.
I worked hard for what my family has today, and I am proud of that. But gratitude requires acknowledging that sometimes hard work needs an open door.
The Town of Chapel Hill opened one for me.
I walked through that door as a homeless father, fresh out of CDL school, who needed someone to give him an opportunity. Today, I walk through those same doors as a bus operator, fill-in supervisor, trainer and Mental Health First Aid instructor.
There is still much more I want to accomplish. But every now and then, I think about that three-bus commute. I think about those hotel rooms. And I think about those nights inside that unfinished apartment building off MLK Boulevard.
Back then, I was sleeping inside a place that was not yet a home while fighting to build a better life for my family. Today, my family has stability. I have a career. I have been entrusted with leadership. And I have the opportunity to help other people who may be carrying struggles no one else can see.
We have traveled a long way since those nights – not just in miles, but in life.
For my family, the Town of Chapel Hill did not simply provide me with employment. It gave me an opportunity when I desperately needed one, and that opportunity helped change the trajectory of our lives.
For that, I will always be grateful.
About the author: Quran Abdul-Nasir is a bus operator, fill-in supervisor and trainer with Chapel Hill Transit. He also serves as one of two Mental Health First Aid instructors for the Town of Chapel Hill. The views expressed here are his own.
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
